The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the mountains of the remote north-western corner of Quang-Tri Province. The protagonist, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant, wants to command a company to further his... show more

The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the mountains of the remote north-western corner of Quang-Tri Province. The protagonist, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant, wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. Two people stand in his way. The first is a well-loved, combat-weary lieutenant of his own age, who desperately wants out of the bush, but who does not want to leave his Marines with an inexperienced and overly ambitious officer. The second is an angry young leader of the company s radical blacks, who has all the political skill, savvy, and ambition of the protagonist. As the protagonist experiences the costs of combat, he sees the terrible results of his ambition and starts to change, learning that compassion and heart are more important than ambition and skill.

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Okay. This was a heavy (emotions wise) book. Written by a former marine who fought in Vietnam and that he's been trying to publish for 30 years, it does not pull any punches. None. Granted, I have never been in war or any branches of the military. So I really have no idea how realistic it is. But i...

Newly Tarted Up Review! I...well...honestly, I have no idea what word to use to describe how I feel about MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes. It's a superlative book, no adjectives need apply. I gave it five stars because that's the scale...but it deserves six. http://tinyurl.com/q89t7b2

I would probably never read Matterhorn if it wasn't for a group on Goodreads that had several members raving about how despite the fact they aren't the biggest fan of war stories, they loved Matterhorn. And it's not that I don't love war stories, I've just had bad luck in the past with stories that ...

I'm not seeing the fuss here. The writing is pretty clunky and the characters are just archetypes. The story goes through all the familiarly horrific beats you're used to if you've seen a bunch of Vietnam movies already. There are a bunch of obvious hoo-rah scenes. It certainly moves - for all its l...

On completion:I have written my thoughts as I progressed through this audiobook, so this will be just a short summary. As is evident from the comments below, when I began this book it caused me lots of trouble. I had trouble understanding the military jargon and acronyms. I had trouble keeping track...

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